Black Fortune

Black Fortune, Book 5 of the Demon in Exile Series, is available for pre-Order via Amazon. It will be released in June 2021.

Excerpt: Promise

Still having extra energy to burn and a Kjaira soul to settle, I went out for a walk beneath a cooling autumn rain. The Garden of the King had eased its rapid pace in the final hours before dawn and the few watchers still on duty belonged to us.

I drew my fang-blade as Sorrow arrived at my side. The night-stalker sniffed the weapon and gave a short whine. No, this wasn’t my usual blade. I’d given that back to Cat. My new fang held a different soul, one from a different death-demon brood, and it had toiled for decades on the chain of a Fuga assassin. The weapon still had my blood on it, along with Ayla’s, so I focused on the fang and listened, pushing the dark energy that I carried into the blade.

It came alive in my hand and wailed, “Name your mark, Dark Lord, and I will obey.”

“Name yourself,” I thought, pressing back upon the dark soul with my mind.

I’d never had a mental conversation with a Kjaira soul before. My connection to Sorrow was simply one of images and knowing.

It responded, “I am Tao-Rien.” First Fang.

“You are the first of your brood?”

“Yes, and the first is always the strongest.” It was an alpha, unchained.

“You have been freed. Why do you remain here beyond the Veil?” I asked.

“I am home as promised. I will stay.”

“Who made you this promise?”

“The one that fed me the heart blood of an assassin. The one that feeds me even now.”

“Then you must know of my nature.”

The blade wailed once more, its laughter spoiling the night, “We are kindred souls, gifted with the promise of exile.”

We were of the same brood after all, one of exile, bound by my blood; I held another sister. Raven would be thrilled.

“And so, I name you ‘Promise,’ a gift of your exile,” I placed my stamp on its new reality, not knowing the mark it would leave on mine.

It hissed, “And you are named ‘Firefanged,’ so poetic in your decay.”